


Mending Fences

by SupernaturallyObsessed



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mentions of past deaths, Other characters mentioned but not seen - Freeform, Platonic Relationships, Post series finale, Spoilers, talking things out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 18:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15824928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SupernaturallyObsessed/pseuds/SupernaturallyObsessed
Summary: After everything that happened with Zerstӧrer, Nick realizes that he made a lot of mistakes over the years and sets out to fix some of them. Starting with Captain Renard.





	Mending Fences

**Author's Note:**

> I had a very different story I was trying to finish but then I had the idea for this and it wouldn't go away so I wrote this first.

 

Nick found it incredibly strange to go back to work on Monday. He had seen Zerstӧrer destroy the precinct and had watched as the monster killed Hank and Wu. He’d lived through an alternate future where he witnessed the deaths of everyone he’d ever cared about, fought one of the toughest battles of his life, and then travelled back in time to where none of that had happened yet and everything was now safe. That was a lot to take in. It was hard for Nick to walk around the office and not picture the floor covered in the bodies of his dead coworkers. 

Hank had asked repeatedly what was going on with him but Nick never gave his partner the whole answer. He had decided the day he had returned not to burden his friends with the story of a future that would no longer come to pass. He wasn’t entirely sure they would believe him anyway. The only reason he believed it was because of the staff and because Diana seemed to remember the other time too.

So far there hadn’t been any deaths that morning--at least none that concerned the homicide department--and Hank had decided to use the break to go to the shop down the street for some real coffee instead of the stuff that was brewed in bulk at the station. 

As he waited for his partner to get back, Nick looked over his shoulder and into Captain Renard’s office. The man was dealing with some paperwork but it didn’t look to be anything too serious. Although he was rather nervous, Nick knew he needed to talk with the older man and figured it was better to just step up and do it rather than keep putting it off. Not talking about things was part of why he was in the current situation to begin with. 

Decision made, Nick got up, walked over to Renard’s office, and knocked lightly on the open door. “Captain, do you have a minute?” he asked.

“Of course,” the man replied. “Come on in.”

Nick gave a small smile as he stepped inside and closed the door behind himself. “Thanks.” While he usually just stood or leaned against the side cabinet when he was in the room Nick decided to actually sit in one of the chairs this time to put himself at the same level as Renard.

“What can I do for you, Detective?” Sean asked, leaning back in his chair.

“This isn’t really about anything police related,” Nick admitted.

Sean nodded. “Grimm business then?”

“Kind of.” Nick knew he needed to have this conversation and he had been ready and willing to do it but now that he was actually sitting in Renard’s office he felt incredibly nervous. What if the captain completely shut him down and refused to give him another chance? It would be well within his rights. Nick hadn’t exactly treated the man that well over the past six years, he realized that now. Would talking make things worse? Maybe it was better to just forget about what had happened and move on with whatever regular, civil, work relationship they could have. 

“Nick,” Sean said, pulling the younger man out of his internal panic. “Whatever’s going on it’s alright. Just tell me what’s on your mind.” The look on his face was soft but if Nick looked closely he could see the guarded emotions in the older man’s eyes.

“I...I wanted to talk to you,” Nick started to explain after a moment to gather his courage. “To apologize.” 

“What for?”

Nick let out a sad chuckle. “Where do I start?” He sighed. “A lot has happened the past six years and, after recent events, I’ve realized that, in general, I was never very fair to you. I mean, you made some serious mistakes sometimes so I’m not going to say I forgive you for everything, but you also did a lot to help and I never really thanked you for any of that. At best I kept you at arm’s length and at worst I pushed you away completely, even when you tried to offer an olive branch.” Nick noticed that his hands were starting to shake a little bit and he took a deep breath to steady himself. “If...if it’s not too late, I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Renard was silent for a moment. He really hadn’t been expecting Nick to say any of that. He’d expected something closer to a warning about staying away from the Grimm’s friends and family because even though the world-ending threat was gone it didn’t mean that he would ever be trusted again.

When he realized that his introspection was inadvertently causing Nick to stress more, Sean met the Grimm’s eyes and smiled. “It's never too late to apologize, Nick. I’m sorry for being so quiet. You just caught me by surprise.” 

Although it was a bit out of character, Renard could tell this wasn't a conversation to have with a desk between them so he got up and moved over to the empty chair next to Nick. If Nick could work so hard to open up and try to fix their relationship, Sean knew it was only fair for him to do the same.

“I know this probably wasn't the best time to start this conversation but I thought it was better than waiting,” Nick said in a nervous rush.

“Now is fine, Nick,” Sean replied calmly. “Thank you for coming and for apologizing.” The older man took a deep breath of his own, not particularly accustomed to admitting when he was wrong and asking for forgiveness. “I'm sorry too,” he finally admitted. “Like you I'm not repentant for everything, but I do know that I’ve made a lot of bad decisions over the years. I wanted acceptance and power and took it wherever I could find it. I let Black Claw’s message target my weak spots and believed their sales pitch.”

“We didn't exactly make you feel like you had a spot with us so I can't totally blame you for liking their offer more,” Nick conceded. “Not saying I'm okay with what you did but, you know, our actions likely influenced each other.”

“You can be quite irritating when you want to be,” Sean teased in an effort to lighten to mood in the room a little. “I am sorry, Nick,” he said again. “Truly. Some things I did because I had a reason, however skewed it might have been, but others I did just to be cruel.”

“I know and I do forgive you,” Nick admitted, and he was only marginally surprised to realize it was the truth. “I know we still have a lot of work to do and everything won’t magically be better overnight, but, if you’re willing, I’d like to give us a chance to truly be allies for once. A long time ago you said that if we could put aside our differences we would make history. What do you say we give that another go?” 

Having put everything on the line, Nick held out his hand. A moment later Sean held out his own and shook.

“I’d like that,” Renard said with a smile. “I do have one question, however,” he added once they’d unclasped their hands.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“What really happened to you before you came back through that mirror? I can tell you’re hiding something and it seems to be weighing rather heavily on you.”

“That’s one hell of an understatement,” Nick said with a hollow laugh. He sighed as he tried to decide what to do. Although he hadn’t wanted to try to explain what happened to everyone, if anyone would understand it would be Renard. Plus sometimes it was helpful to share a burden like that and it would also be a good way to show that he really did want to act differently moving forward. “I lived through an alternate timeline,” Nick said finally, deciding to just go with the truth. “In that life, when Eve and I came through, Zerstӧrer also came through, though in another part of town. He kept coming after me, wanting the stick from the Black Forest because it was the missing piece of his staff. He killed everyone to get to me. I watched all of you die. He killed Trubel too but then brought her back as a show of good faith for what he would do if I gave him what he wanted. Trubel and I eventually managed to kill him...” (okay so maybe he wasn’t going to share absolutely everything) “...but then another portal opened and pulled me through.”

“So that’s how you got the staff and why you were so surprised to see all of us.”

“Yup. He killed everyone here too. That’s why I keep staring at the floor and zoning out,” Nick admitted sheepishly. 

“That’s quite a story,” Sean said, still a little shocked by what he’d heard. In the realm of possibilities it wasn’t that outrageous. He knew time travel was theoretically possible but he’d never known anyone who had actually done it. “Thank you. For trusting me with that.”

Nick shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal but they both knew that it was.

Before either man could say anything more there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Sean said, slipping right back into Captain mode.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Hank said, giving his partner an odd look, “but we’ve got a case.” Sean nodded and Nick took that as his queue to leave.

“Thanks for talking, Captain,” he said with a smile as he left. 

“Is everything okay?” Hank asked once they were back at their desks and out of earshot.

“Yeah, Hank,” Nick replied, pulling on his coat. “For the first time in a long time everything is fine.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> We did see Sean and Adalind apologize so I would have liked to see that with some of the other characters too.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story! Comments/kudos are always appreciated! :)
> 
>  
> 
> (P.S. For those of you who like slash fic I do have a much more E rated story in the works ;) )


End file.
